Before I became a blogger I had a pretty big network of friends on Facebook unlike Twitter to which I started to really pay attention only after I turned to blogging. Most bloggers look at social network through the prism of their blogs. The questioned asked is “What is in there for my Blog?”
The answer is not very definitive and not at all very productive in the short term. Facebook presence is a bit like your blog. You have to work at it consistently and over time.
Here are 5 tips that I feel as a blogger are useful when it comes to using Facebook.
#1. Create Personal and Professional Accounts
I was previously not a fan of having two separate accounts with Facebook. I thought people interested in knowing me as a blogger should know the real me. But the problem starts with privacy. You are not just responsible for your privacy but also your friend’s privacy. I dont really want my blogger friends randomly add my school friends on Facebook. This is where you need to draw a line. I have created a profile only dedicated to adding blog related contacts. Usually I don’t mix my contacts at all.
#2. Work on your profile
People who add a blogger on Facebook are not necessarily bloggers themselves. Sometimes they are just regular readers. They want to get to know the person behind the name and the best way to start of here would be to work on your profile information. Usually always update details like City/town name, Country, Education. Another way to make yourself seem human is to make sure you have added some favorite movies, books and sports.
#3. Be casual but be polite
Be casual when it comes to updating your wall status or leaving comments on other contact’s updates. Being casual is good but never forget to be polite. If your Facebook profile is blog related then make sure the language you use on your blog is the same on Facebook.
#4. Friends are not Fans
I tend to take Facebook profiles with thousands of friends not very seriously. Let’s say someone has a 2000 friends and I have to add this person. Chances are this person will not be able to give my profile any attention. You seriously cannot interact individually with 2000 friends. Make a fan page if you need to share things with thousands of people. I know adding friends is easier than getting people to become fans but then this is Facebook and not Twitter.
#5. Careful with what you ‘Like’
Be careful with the ‘Like button’ and be selective. Do not press the ‘Like button’ automatically. Make sure there is a reson behind you putting a ‘Like’ to someones status, shared link or photo. Usually follow up ‘Like’ with a comment. Also in case you are reading a link, check out the link actually and then come back and click the “Like” button.
These are really points which I follow on my Facebook profile. I do not use it as an extension of my blog but more like a way to get to know other bloggers and interact with them.
If you feel you have more points to add to things you expect bloggers to do with their Facebook persona do let me know through your comments.
3 Comments
Good points Aditya.. I really like the first point, as I’m facing this problem now..But creating a new blogger profile and managing both accounts effectively seems a daunting task to me..
As I am not active on farmville and other such games on Facebook I can afford to ignore my personal account for a couple of days. Mostly I use FB to have discussions and sometimes to share pics with friends.
Me too joins with you, It’s hard to manage two FB profiles..